Closure structure

ABSTRACT

A RECTANTULAR FRAME HAVING GROOVED STILES AND RAILS INTO WHICH THE EDGES OF A PAIR OF PARALLEL AND ADJACENT PANELS ARE RECEIVED AND HELD SO THAT ONE OF THE PANELS CAN MOVE IN ITS PLANE TRANSVERSELY OF THE OTHER PANEL. THE PANELS ARE PROVIDED WITH UNIFORMLY SPACED AND UNIFORMLY DIMENSIONED OPENINGS WHICH ARE ALIGNED IN ONE POSITION OF ONE PANEL WITH RESPECT TO THE OTHER AND ARE SUBSTANTIALLY BLOCKED IN ANOTHER POSITION OF THE ONE PANEL WITH RESPECT TO THE OTHER. A PAIR OF BLIND STOPS ARE REMOVABLY MOUNTED ON THE STILES TO PERMIT THE INSERTION AND REMOVAL OF THE PANELS WITH RESPECT TO THE FRAME.

Feb. 23, 1971 w. J. KORBELIC 3,564,770

CLOSURE STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 2'7, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR.

l V/ZZMM r/ KUPEfl/C Feb. 23, 1971 Filed Oct. 27, 1969 w. J. KORBELIC 3,564,770

CLOSURE STRUCTURE 2 Sheets$heet 2 TI 1 I I IT. 1 .1? l l I LLJ J l J ma aw United States Patent 3,564,770 CLOSURE STRUCTURE William J. Korbelic, Benton Harbor, Mich., assignor to Kaywood Division, Joanna Western Mills Company,

Benton Harbor, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 27, 1969, Ser. No. 869,508

Int. Cl. E06b 7/02 I U.S. CI. 4938 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rectangular frame having grooved stiles and rails into which the edges of a pair of parallel and adjacent panels are received and held so that one of the panels can move in its plane transversely of the other panel. The panels are provided with uniformly spaced and uniformly dimensioned openings which are aligned in one position of one panel with respect to the other and are substantially blocked in another position of the one panel with respect to the other. A pair of blind stops are removably mounted on the stiles to permit the insertion and removal of the panels with respect to the frame.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to a closure structure and, more particularly, to a shutter having relatively slideable, perforate panels for varying the amount of light passing through the shutter.

Shutters, which are both decorative and functional, are widely used both in residences and commercial buildings. Shutters fabricated from 'wood are still much in demand, but those having a light-adjusting capacity have been expensive and diflicult to manufacture. Moreover, the nature of their structure has been such that they are relatively susceptible to damage, thereby somewhat restricting their utility.

In reviewing these problems, it became apparent that the aforesaid problems could be at least reduced, if not overcome, by providing a shutter comprised of a pair of parallel, adjacent panels having alignab le perforations through which light could pass, but which could block the light by moving one of the panels with respect to the other. However, a further problem was raised by the need for .a simple, inexpensive and foolproof method of mounting the panels within a frame so that one of the ,panels would be held stationary and the other panel would be movable within the frame to vary the light passage through the shutter. Since the cost of labor becomes an important factor in products manufactured from wood, due to the care with which the Woodworking operations must be performed, it is important to minimize the humber of parts required and maintain at a maximum the number of such parts which can be manufactured substantially or completely automatically.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is the provision of a shutter construction which can be assembled quickly and easily from a minimum of parts which can be manufactured inexpensively by substantially automatic procedures and machinery.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a shutter construction, as aforesaid, which can be readily taken apart for cleaning and/or refinishing, which has only one moving part, thereby minimizing operational failures and worn parts, which can be furnished in wide varieties of rectangular shapes and sizes, which can have various types and shapes of light openings for decorative purposes, and which is sturdy in its construction and capable of continued use even under relatively severe operating conditions.

Patented Feb. 23, 1971 Other objects and purposes of the invention will become apparent to persons familiar with this type of equipment upon reading the following descriptive material and examining the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, side-ele'vational View of the exterior side of a shutter construction embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragment of the shutter appearing in FIG. 1 as seen from the interior side thereof.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 2 with the movable shutter panel in the closed position.

FIG. 5 is a fragment of FIG. 3 showing a blind stop being mounted on a stile.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VIVI in FIG. 1 with one of the panels completely installed and the other panel partially installed.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VHVII in FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 is a fragment of a modified embodiment including the invention.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged, sectional view taken along the line IXIX in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragment of FIG. 9. For convenience in description, the terms upper, lower, interior, exterior and words of similar import SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects and purposes of the invention, including those set forth above, have been met by providing a rectangular frame having a pair of rails and a pair of stiles rigidly secured at the corners of the frame. The opposing, inner edges of the stiles and rails are provided with grooves, in which a pair of parallel and adjacent panels are held so that only one of the panels can move relative to and transversely of the frame. The two panels have preferably identical perforation patterns which are spaced and arranged so that movement of the movable panel can cause it to close all of the openings in the fixed panel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The closure structure or shutter 10 has a wooden frame 11, in this particular embodiment, which is comprised of a pair of rails 12 and 13 and a pair of stiles 15 and 16 which are rigidly secured to each other at the four corners of the frame 11 in a substantially conventional manner, as by means of pins, screws, adhesive and the like. The rails 12 and 13 have a pair of grooves 17 and 18 in their inner opposing edges. The grooves 17 and 18 are defined on their interior sides by flanges 21 and 22, respectively, which are integral with the rails 12 and 13, respectively.

The stiles 15 and 16 (FIG. 3) have integral flanges 23 and 24, respectively, which are substantially coplanar with the flanges 21 and 22 on the rails 12 and 13. The vertical lengths of the panels 26 and 27 are both preferably slightly less than the perpendicular distance between the bottom 28 of the groove 17 and the bottom 29 of the groove 18.

The interior panel 26 (FIGS. 2 and 3) is preferably fabricated from a durable and resiliently flexible sheet material, such as plywood, fiberboard or plastic which has suflicient rigidity to resist material deflection in normal use. The panel 26 has a plurality of diamondshaped openings 32 which, in this embodiment, are of uniform size and shape, and are uniformly spaced.

The panel 27 is preferably identical in size, shape and material to the panel 26, and said panel 27 has plural diamond-shaped openings 33 which register accurately with the openings 32 in the panel 26 preferably when panel 27 is approximately superimposed upon panel 26. A slight horizontal otfset of the openings on one panel relative to the openings on the other is required in this embodiment to permit maximum variation in light passage through the shutter.

The sizes and spacings of the openings 32 and 33 are such that, by appropriately positioning of one panel horizontally with respect to the other panel, the openings through the two panels can be fully aligned as shown in FIG. 3, or covered as shown in FIG. 4, or located in intermediate positions to provide maximum variation in the light passing through the shutter. The panels 26 and 27 can be flexed for insertion of their edges into the grooves 17 and 18. That is, the lower edges of the panels are first inserted into the lower grooves 18 after which the central portions of the panels are bowed through and beyond the exterior side of the frame 11 so that the upper edges can be inserted into the grooves 17 (FIG. 6).

The stiles and 16 (FIGS. 3 and 4) are provided with lengthwise grooves 36 and 37 which are spaced from the flanges 23 and 24, respectively, a distance slightly greater than the combined thickness of the two panels 26 and 27.

A pair of elongated blind stops 38 and 39 are removably mounted upon the stiles 15 and 16 for holding the panels 26 and 27 within the frame 11. Specifically, the blind stop 38 has a pair of flanges 42 and 43 which project at right angles from the blind stop 38 and extend lengthwise thereof. The flange 42 is snugly but slideably received into the groove 36 and the flange 43 projects toward the flange 23 from which it is spaced a distance slightly greater than the thickness of the panel 26. The blind stop 38 projects over the adjacent edge of the panel 27 to hold it in place.

The blind stop 39 may be and preferably is identical with the blind stop 38 and, accordingly, has a flange 45 which extends into the groove 37 and a flange 46 which extends toward the flange 24.

The flanges 43 and 46 are constructed so that they hold the exterior panel 27 against movement relative to and transversely of the stiles 15 and 16.

The surface 47 of the flange 43 adjacent the edge of the panel 27 is sloped toward the stile in order to facilitate assembly of the blind stop 38. A handle 48 is secured to the interior panel 26 for effecting its movement with respect to the panel 27.

The alternate shutter 55 has a pair of perforate panels 56 and 57 mounted in a frame 11A which may be identical with the frame 11 described above. The panels 56 and 57 are fabricated by punching rectangular openings through sheet material such as pressed wood or plywood. Also, the panels 56 and 57 could be fabricated from molded or punched plastic sheets. The blind stop 58 may in substance be identical with either one of the blind stops 38 and 39, except that it is made from a plastic material and has a serrated surface 61 on one side of the flange 62 which is received into the groove 36A in ,the stile 15A. The serrated surface 61 serves to resist accidental separation of the blind stop 58 from the stile 15A.

OPERATION While the operation of the above-described structure will be apparent to persons skilled in this art upon reading such description, a brief summary of the operation is noW given for convenience.

After the two panels 26 and 27 have been installed in the grooves 17 and 18, as discussed above, one of the blind stops, such as the blind stop 38, is mounted on the stile 15, after which the panel 27 is then moved against the flange 43. The flange 45 on the blind stop 39 is then inserted into the groove 37 and the blind stop 39 is urged toward the stile 16 which requires some force, until the flange 46 snaps under the adjacent edge of the panel 27. During the insertion of the blind stop 39, the interior panel 26 will preferably be moved as close to the stile 15 as possible so that the edge of the panel 27 adjacent the blind stop 39 can flex inwardly and thereby minimize the difficulty in assembling the blind stop 39 onto the stile 15. The flanges on the blind stops 38 and 39 cooperate with the stiles and the exterior panel 27 to positively prevent accidental disconnection of the blind stops 38 and 39 from their respective stiles.

The shutter is now ready for installation on a window casing in a conventional manner after which the light passing through the shutter can be quickly and easily varied by grasping the handle 48 and moving the panel 26 sidewardly with respect to the panel 27 until the appropriate amount of light passage is achieved.

The alternate shutter 55 is assembled and operates in substantially the same manner as discussed above with respect to the shutter 10.

Although particular preferred embodiments of the intion have been disclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognized that variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, including the rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the present invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

-1. A closure structure comprising:

a rectangular frame having two stiles and two rails rigidly connected together;

a pair of spaced flanges integral with the opposing edges of said rails and defining a pair of first grooves;

flange means on each of said stiles coplanar with one of the flanges on each of said rails and adjacent one side of said frame;

a pair of similar panels having uniformly arranged openings of uniform size, said panels having the upper edges and lower edges thereof simultaneously disposed within the grooves in said rails, the width of said panels being less than the distance between the opposing edges of said stiles by an amount equal to the width of the openings in said panels, one of said panels being relatively movable with respect to the other transversely of said stiles;

means defining a pair of second grooves in said stiles between said panels and the other side of said frame;

a pair of elongated stops removably received into said grooves in said stiles adjacent said panels, each stop having a ridge extending lengthwise thereof adjacent the inner edge of said stile and projecting under the adjacent edge of the nearest panel, whereby said nearest panel is held against movement transversely of said stiles, the other panel being movable transversely of said stiles;

handle means on said other panel.

2. A structure according to claim 1, wherein the width of the openings in each panel in the direction of their relative movement is equal to the space between each pair of adjacent openings in said direction.

3. A structure according to claim 1, wherein said stops are fabricated from plastic material and the portions thereof which extend into said second grooves in said stiles are serrated lengthwise thereof to resist disengagement of said stops from within said grooves in said stiles.

4. A structure according to claim 1, wherein each stop has first and second flange means projecting at right angles therefrom and extending lengthwise thereof, the first flange means being received into one of said grooves in said stiles and the other flange means comprising said ridge means, said stops and said flange means on said 6 stiles defining a third pair of grooves which communicate 2,240,930 5/ 1941 Hunter 52-397 at their ends with the first grooves in said rails. 2,250,059 7/1941 Farney 160-222X 2,554,058 5/1951 Phipps 52-397 Ref rences Cited 2,635,523 4/1953 Hunter 49-384 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 3,218,769 11/1965 Brown et a1. 52-400 14,798 5/ 1856 Bruif 49-38 PETER M. CAUN, Primary *Examiner 314,393 3/1885 Paradise 49-38 Us CL 374,105 11/1887 Wilson 49-38 22 487,163 11/1892 Stagg et a1 49-38 16 2 

